Man admits guilt in crash that killed best friend

His SUV rolled over as he tried to avoid a car he was tailgating in 2008 in Lower Saucon Twp.

January 09, 2010|By Riley Yates Of The Morning Call

A Freemansburg man who killed his friend in a 2008 road-rage crash pleaded guilty Friday as the victim's mourning mother wept in the courtroom.

Jonathan L. Hanchick, 21, admitted to misdemeanor charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the wreck in Lower Saucon Township in which Michael D. Schuyler, his passenger, died.

The plea came as Schuyler's parents, Samford and Pauline, looked on. As the accident was detailed in court, Pauline Schuyler several times broke into tears.

"This is a difficult time for them," said Northampton County Assistant District Attorney William Blake. "There's some wringing of hands and there's still some raw emotions there."

On Feb. 11, 2008, Hanchick was driving a sport utility vehicle roughly 70 mph, tailgating a car driven by a 17-year-old boy he'd had an altercation with just before. Hanchick lost control and his SUV went airborne and rolled, throwing Schuyler, 19, of Bethlehem Township.

Hanchick will be sentenced March 5 by President Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden. His defense attorney, Erv McLain, said his client was devastated by the accident. After it, Hanchick was suicidal and had to be hospitalized, McLain said.

"From Day One, all he could say to me was "I caused it,"' McLain said. "Every day, he has to get up and live with the fact he killed his best friend."

In court, Hanchick said that before the wreck he and Schuyler had gotten into an argument with Gage Wressics of Freemansburg. They chased him in the SUV, and went off the road while trying to avoid hitting Wressics after he locked his brakes, Hanchick said.

"I've learned no matter what, you should always have your vehicle under safe speeds," Hanchick said.

"What were you thinking?" McFadden said. "Because of your immaturity and because of your response to what you thought was some kind of challenge, a life was lost here."

The guilty plea was part of an agreement in which prosecutors dropped a felony count of homicide by vehicle. Hanchick faces up to five years in prison on the involuntary manslaughter charge.

Hanchick also admitted in court to a separate drunken-driving arrest that occurred after the crash, in September 2008 in Freemansburg. In that case, he pleaded guilty to fleeing or eluding police and second-offense driving under the influence. Sentencing in that case is also scheduled for March.

McLain said he hopes Hanchick will be spared state prison in the two cases.

Blake said he has not determined the punishment he will seek.

"I want to talk to the family," Blake said. "I really want their desires to dictate where this goes."